


Hurt Feelings

by SadieYuki



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Gen, Tarsus IV, empath!bones, not explicitly mentioned but it's implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-18 07:13:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8153498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadieYuki/pseuds/SadieYuki
Summary: The McCoys have a history of empathic abilities, though it is very rare, and it's never manifested later than someone's 20th birthday.Leonard McCoy is what you would call a late bloomer.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For [zukoandtheoc’s](http://zukoandtheoc.tumblr.com/) prompt: _imagine-jim-bones-and-spock had some empath!Bones AU shenanigans a while ago. Consider empath!Bones finding out about Tarsus IV for the first time._

Empathic abilities weren’t exactly common in the McCoy family, but they also weren’t a surprise when they did manifest. Every single case in his family usually manifested during puberty, and certainly no later than the age of twenty.

Definitely not thirty.

And yet here Leonard found himself, at the ripe age of thirty-one, wide awake and flooded with feelings of lust courtesy of one Jim Kirk’s wet dream on the other side of the room.

Not that Leonard needed empathy to know the content of Jim’s dream; he was certainly moaning loud enough. 

Sure, throughout the past month or so, Leonard had started to feel his emotions leeching off of Jim, but at the time he’d just thought it was Jim’s natural infectious charm. It didn’t take an empath to feel lighter when Jim aimed a smile at you. And family history dictated that it was far too late for any empathic abilities to develop.

But that’s how it always started. An evolutionary adaptation made it so new empaths would start only with positive emotions, to help transition them into their new abilities, and as time went on, heavier and more cutting emotions would begin to transfer over.

This was the first time something other than peace, contentment, and happiness had transferred over, and Leonard figured he should count himself lucky that he was experiencing his first heavy emotion in solitude. At least he could take care of his (Jim’s?) problem on his own—

As soon as he had the thought, he abruptly felt the lust fade from his body. Leonard let out a relieved sigh. Not that he would’ve minded letting loose a bit, but he usually preferred to have _something_ to get off to, not just emotion that didn’t even belong to him—

Jim was still moaning.

Leonard waited a moment, trying to decipher the emotions in his body. The lust was definitely gone, and yet Jim was still dreaming. Did empathic transference typically just cut out like that? He’d have to ask his mother in the morning. But what would she say? This was such an abnormal situation, what kind of empath developed so late in their life? She’d think he was some sort of freak—

_Woah, what?_

Leonard had never had a reason to fear his mother’s reaction to anything, and so he could only conclude the fear wasn’t his own, but Jim’s. It wasn’t just fear though, it was pure unadulterated terror. Leonard suddenly understood why the positive emotion phase lasted so long, because he could only imagine what it would feel like to face _this_ without any preparation.

As it was, Leonard still found himself trembling under the weight of Jim’s emotions. He wanted nothing more than to stand up, cross the room, and wake Jim up from what was clearly a nightmare now. But he found he couldn’t move. He felt paralyzed, he felt like any possible movement he made would result in some terrible catastrophe.

If he couldn’t move, maybe he could shout. But even as he had the thought, he felt his throat constrict. Grief and guilt squeezed the breath from his lungs, they felt like they were filled with lead, heavy in his chest and unable to expand. He tried to breathe but his mouth only gaped like a fish out of water. He needed to breathe, he needed to be safe, he needed...he needed...

He felt more than heard Jim wake up across the room, a final shot of terror punching Leonard in the gut before a steady stream of relief flooded his body like a fast-acting analgesic. His chest heaved, gasping as he tried to replenish his lost air—

“Bones?!”

As soon as it had come, the rush of relief was quickly being replaced by the heavy weight of worry, like a thick medical blanket that was far too loaded. A sweaty palm landed on his forehead and— _fearconcernconfusion_ —Leonard flinched away at the touch, unconsciously slapping the hand away. Projected emotions were one thing, but Leonard knew he wouldn’t be able to handle physical contact at the moment.

Leonard felt a wave of betrayal and more confusion as Jim drew away. This was going to be hard to explain. “Sorry, Jim,” he sighed roughly.

“S’okay,” Jim mumbled, and Leonard didn’t need empathy to know that Jim’s insecurities were eating him alive. “Bad dream?”

“Yes and no…” Leonard winced, feeling a headache start to take hold. So many heavy and conflicting emotions in one go was overwhelming, to say the least. “Jim, I need to tell you something.”

Leonard wasn’t sure how long it took him to explain the McCoy family’s semi-inherited empathic abilities. The entire story had been punctuated with Jim’s shifting emotions that Leonard lost track of where he was sometimes.

“So you can feel my emotions,” Jim said, voice devoid of emotion but Leonard felt everything underneath. A wave of guilt, fear, and even a bit of contempt laced his thoughts. Leonard nodded wordlessly. “So you know what I was dreaming about.”

“No,” Leonard shook his head tiredly. “I know how you felt about what you were dreaming, but I don’t know what you saw or what you experienced.”

“That’s something,” Jim muttered. Resignation was the primary emotion he felt off of Jim now, and Leonard cocked his head curiously. “This wasn’t a one time thing.” At first Leonard thought Jim had been commenting on his empathy, but it took him a moment to realize Jim was talking about himself, and his nightmare. “Fuck, Bones, I’m sorry...”

Guilt now, and Leonard found it hard to breathe again. “Talk to me, kid,” he forced out.

“I just…you’re gonna be…look, if you want a different roommate, I’d understand—”

“Why would I want another roommate?” Leonard asked, his own alarm almost drowning out the fear of loss and abandonment from Jim.

“I have these dreams a lot, Bones,” Jim muttered.

“You know empathy doesn’t just work for negative emotions, right?” Leonard asked softly, and he felt a pleasant bloom of surprise. “Jim, I’m willing to experience the bad if it means I get to experience all the good that comes with you too.” More surprise, disbelief even, that Leonard both felt and saw clear as day on Jim’s face, and finally Leonard felt the welcome burst of joy in his chest.


End file.
